- Check your email or social media before you get out of bed?
- Check your email or social media immediately before you go to bed? Or while in bed?
- Check email or social media while driving or at a stoplight?
- Check your phone immediately when someone goes to the bathroom? And try to finish by the time they get back without them seeing?
- Better yet… do you check your phone while YOU are using the bathroom?
- Feel more anxious, feel like your life could be better, or that you are missing out?
- Regret the time you just spent on social media?
If you answered yes to at least a few of these, it is quite possible that you are addicted to your phone (and social media). The good news is that you aren’t alone. Quite far from it, in fact. Social media addiction is now pervasive. A recent survey among parents and their children revealed some numbers with large implications.
- 69% of parents and 78% of teens check their devices at least hourly
- 72% of teens feel the need to immediately respond to texts, social networking messages, and other notifications
- 66% of parents feel their teens spend too much time on their mobile devices
- 54% of children feel that their parents checked their devices too often
- 36% of parents feel thet argue with their child on a daily basis about device use
- 50% of teens feel they are addicted to their mobile devices
- 27% of parents feel they are addicted to their mobile devices
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/03/health/teens-cell-phone-addiction-parents/
One could safely assume from the above statistics that mobile devices are impacting the parent/child relationship. But the impact is also notable for any one considered a ‘constant checker’. Bloomberg just released an article describing the significant increase in stress due to social media. In fact, the stress levels of those who are constantly on their phones are much higher (about 20% higher) than those who check their phones moderately. And by the way, those who expressed the highest levels of stress were likely to reference the political landscape on social media. 42% specifically referenced political and cultural considerations as a source of their stress.
These are charged times, where it almost seems like social media is deliberately trying to stress us out. So what do we do? Well… first thing is first…. PUT THE PHONE DOWN! Then, stay tuned for my next blog post on specific techniques to deal with phone addiction.
